In general eggs can be divided into more valuable eggs and less valuable eggs. The more valuable eggs are often the eggs meant for consumers. They can be graded into different size, weight or quality classes. They are mainly packed into egg boxes or egg trays. Eggs that are mainly meant for the food industry and are processed into other products may be eggs which are rejected because of cracks, dirt on the shell, or containing blood. Such eggs are economically less valuable.
In an egg packaging process it may occur that eggs cannot be moved into a packaging line, e.g. because there is no package available into which an egg can be placed, because there is a full package which is not removed, or because of some kind of technical failure.
Stopping the sorting and packaging assembly to resolve the issue when eggs cannot be packed is an option, but because a whole processing line has to be stopped it is economically very unfavourable. Therefore it is hitherto common to release all eggs from the endless egg conveyor downstream of the last packaging line. Mostly an endless egg conveyor has controllable retainers, which are all automatically opened after the last packaging line has been passed. In this way it is ensured that the endless egg conveyor is empty when the egg retainers pass the supply device to receive new eggs. The eggs that are removed are handled as eggs which are used in industry. Often they are broken when released from the endless conveyor.
A disadvantage of this known process is that eggs that as such are suitable to be sold as consumer eggs end up being treated as eggs to be processed in industry, which implicates an economic loss.
The present invention has for an object to provide egg sorting and packaging method and/or assembly by which the economic profit of a batch of eggs is increased.